My Cuddly Little Cubby
by ElsBells
Summary: Quinn and baby Beth are partnered with Rachel at a school-sponsored haunted house. Happy Halloween!
1. Chapter 1

**My Cuddly Little Cubby**

Quinn could not find her tail. She had searched the whole house, with Beth scooting along behind her on all fours, but she just _couldn't find it_.

God, Santana had probably velcroed it to some random piece of fabric that she would never see again and her Tigger would be tailless.

This was not acceptable.

"Mom!" Quinn put her paws on her hips and waited for her mother to reply, watching Beth roll a plastic honey pot around the living room.

"Yes Quinnie?" Judy called. She sounded like she was in the kitchen, as if they needed any more pumpkin pies in this house. "Do we have trick-or-treaters already? Hurry and grab the candy! Oh goodness, do you think we have enough? I think you ate all the Starburst, but-"

"No, mom, where's my tail? Have you seen it?"

Quinn waited. All she heard was silence, plus the incoherent ramblings of her toddler. "Mom?"

"Yes, honey?"

Yep, she'd done something with it. Lost it, shrunk it, cut it, threw it out, bleached it, burned it, cooked it into a damn pumpkin pie.

"Where's my tail!" Quinn was losing her patience. She was already late because she'd been funneling Starburst into her mouth all afternoon and watching classic Pooh Bear on VHS with Beth.

Yes, she was a method actor. Rachel Berry would appreciate it. _Rachel Berry_.

"It's outside." Judy called, a little more weakly than her last few exclamations.

Quinn stopped wondering how angry her "scare partner" would be with her for showing up half an hour late, and focused back on her missing appendage.

"What? Why is outside?"

Judy hesitated again. "I used it to tie the gate to the yard shut. It keeps swinging open and Beth used all the string when she made that giant knot, so…"

Quinn sighed. Of course.

_Oh, the latch doesn't work properly? Let's see what I can use to fix this. A fluffy Tigger tail!_

"We're going now, Mom. I'll get it on the way out." Quinn scooped Beth up and walked through to the kitchen. The remnants of that afternoon's disastrous jack-o-lantern experience hung unpleasantly in the air and Beth scrunched her face in protest.

Judy turned around from her half-finished pie and smiled at them. "Have fun, Quinnie. Are you sure you want to take Beth? I mean, it _is_ a haunted house and-"

"She'll be fine, mom. Mr. Schue put me with Rachel, so, you know, Beth will probably be the one scaring her." Quinn smiled fondly at the cuddly little Pooh Bear in her arms.

Judy walked over and kissed them both on the cheek. "Okay. Be careful. Oh, and drive safely. And Quinn, be nice to Rachel."

Quinn rolled her eyes and smiled at her mom before going out the back door and around the side of the house. She spent about ten minutes unwinding her tail from around the side gate. Her mom had created some sort of maximum security facility with the thing. Quinn finally velcroed it to its spot on the back of her fluffy Tigger pants before moving out front to the car and depositing Beth in her car seat.

She drove carefully because there were trick-or-treaters about, even though it was only six and the sun was still out. They were the really young ones with bedtimes and with their moms and dads carrying their bags of candy and escorting them to the doors to make sure they said "thank you."

Now Quinn felt guilty for eating all the Starburst.

They got to the school only twenty minutes late, and Quinn quickly unbuckled Beth and hurried across the parking lot. Before going through the doors to the main building, she put her hood up, and Beth giggled and tried to grasp the orange ears.

Quinn smiled. If she was going to be Tigger for Halloween, she was going _all in_ and she was going to do a damn good job.

"_Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh, cuddly little cubby all stuffed with fluff, she's Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh, willy nilly silly old bear."_

Quinn sang lightly and Beth giggled as they made their way through the halls, which had been "haunted housified" yesterday at a ridiculously early hour. By the time the glee club had reached the last hallway they were decorating, they basically said, "fuck it," and tossed the fluffy web and fake spiders over the lockers and called it a day. Somebody had obviously re-done their masterpiece though, because Quinn was ready to have a heart attack as she finally reached the choir room.

She was about to open the door when somebody came barreling out of it, wearing…a…cardboard box?

"Dear God, Finn!" Quinn covered Beth's eyes when she realized that the boy was not wearing any pants. "Put some clothes on!"

"Quinn!" Finn stopped short in surprise, but took off again in a stilted walk-run-frantic-rush to find a pair of pants. "I'm having a…wardrobe…malfunction!"

Quinn grimaced and focused on Beth's yellow paws swatting at the orange ones covering her eyes. She walked through the door as Finn disappeared around the corner and was greeted by chaos, of course. Kurt and Blaine were apparently frolicking super-heroes, Spiderman and Superman respectively, and from behind them emerged Rachel, in a Piglet costume, of all things.

Just ridiculous.

"Quinn!"

And here she comes.

"You brought Beth!" Rachel squealed as she whipped Beth out of Quinn's arms, smiling brightly at them both. "And we're complementary! This is perfect!"

Quinn couldn't really formulate words. The pink ears on Rachel's head were distracting her.

"Rachel! Piglet!"

Apparently her daughter wasn't having the same problem. Rachel grinned down at the toddler and bounced her up and down a little.

"You look adorable, baby girl!"

"Um, is Finn—what was going on there?" Quinn finally asked, smiling when Beth fell into a giggling fit at Rachel's pig expression.

Rachel smiled and looked back up at her. "Well, Finn was under the impression that he could create his own Transformers costume." Rachel shook her head sagely. "Of course, the duct tape fell apart the moment he made a sudden movement and his… _lower box_ fell off."

Quinn rolled her eyes as Rachel giggled some more with Beth. She took the opportunity to look around the rest of the room.

Puck was obviously Woody from Toy Story. Quinn assumed he was aiming for some sort of euphemistic double-entendre that he could make jokes about all night. He was arguing with Artie, who was dressed as a life-size Angry Bird, the red one of course. It looked like they were using a slingshot to fire pencils across the room at an unsuspecting Mercedes, who was dressed as either Clifford the Big Red Dog, or a devil…or a demon Clifford, which… points for originality.

Quinn turned around as the choir room door swung open again.

"OKAY, WHO TOOK MY FUCKING SWORD?"

"Santana!" Rachel screeched, hugging Beth's head to her fluffy, pink chest and covering the toddler's other ear.

"WAS IT YOU BERR- Oh, you brought mini Q!" Santana stopped short with a grinning Brittany behind her, dressed as Tinkerbell, and cooed to the little girl in Rachel's arms. "Aww, you look so cute, yes you do, _yes you do_!"

Quinn snorted at Rachel's facial expression. She looked absolutely _terrified_. Santana straightened up and glared at everyone as if she hadn't just had some sort of mental break.

"So, where's my sword people? Peter Pan has to have-"

"Here!" A giant Pikachu came stumbling through the door next with a plastic sword in his hands. Quinn identified the Pokémon as Mike, followed by Darth Vader.

Darth Vader spoke up. "Sorry. He wanted to see if it could beat my light saber. It didn't. _Obviously_." Tina looked pointedly at her boyfriend from behind her mask and Santana grabbed her sword, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Okay guys!" Mr. Schue spoke up as he emerged from his office in—dear Lord what was wrong with these people—a _full-body Scooby-Doo outfit_. His tail was not removable. "They're gonna start letting kids in soon, so let's all go to our stations. Remember, use the element of surprise and be loud! We want to terrify these people!"

Quinn wasn't sure that the best thing to do with first-graders was to terrify them, but, whatever. She and her partner and their little sidekick were dressed as _Pooh Bear_ characters for God's sake.

Rachel was nodding along to Mr. Schue's advice, her Piglet face transformed into one of serious concentration. Beth seemed to be mimicking her with her chubby, happy face set into a focused frown. Quinn smiled at their expressions until Rachel turned and motioned for Quinn to follow her.

They filed out of the room with everybody else, splitting into groups of two and heading to their designated stations. Quinn and Rachel were at station number three, hidden near the wall of one of the hallways by a big, black sheet. They could barely see anything, as the only lighting came from a few lanterns strung along the lockers. It seemed like there was enough fog in the air to suffocate anybody under four feet tall.

"Do you wanna do the first one?" Quinn asked Rachel as they situated themselves behind the sheet. Rachel smiled excitedly and carefully handed Beth to Quinn.

"Sure!"

Quinn smiled in amusement. "I can hear them coming. You ready?" she asked quietly.

Rachel nodded and poised herself like she was about to run a 100-meter race. Muscles tense, Piglet ears flopping, bright pink nose and brown eyes ready and alert. Quinn looked at Beth to see what she thought of this crazy person. Her daughter seemed enamored with Rachel, gazing soulfully at her through the darkness. Quinn couldn't help but smile.

She heard approaching footsteps and murmurs, and held her breath, thankful that Beth was such a quiet little girl. Rachel took a deep breath and lunged suddenly out from behind the sheet, roaring at _the top of her lungs_.

Quinn nearly dropped her baby she was so terrified.

Apparently the little kids were too, if their wailing to the heavens was any indication. Rachel stopped dancing around like a roaring, demented Frankenstein's monster, and froze.

"Rachel!" Quinn hissed. "Get back in here!"

"Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry! Um, continue that way please. They'll…give you candy. Sorry!" Rachel tried to placate the now scarred-for-life first-graders before slipping back behind the sheet, breathing deeply.

"Oh my God, Rachel! We're not trying to traumatize them! You've scarred them for life!"

Quinn knew Rachel hadn't actually been _that_ scary; she was dressed as Piglet, after all. Quinn just had so much adrenaline coursing through her veins from her near cardiac arrest she could power a spaceship.

Rachel looked guilty and worried, from what Quinn could see of her face. "I didn't mean to make them cry!"

Quinn took a few calming breaths and figured Rachel could do the same before they all went home in tears. The smaller girl was leaning heavily on the wall. Beth seemed to not have processed anything that just happened.

God, shocked into a semi-conscious state. Good work, Rachel.

"Hey." Quinn said, regaining some rational thought. "Breathe, Rachel. You did well. They wanted a haunted house, and, well…you certainly gave them one."

Rachel took a few deep calming breaths and reached for Beth. "Can you take the next few?"

Quinn nodded, handing off her daughter. "You good?"

Rachel looked at Beth and nodded her head. "Did you think I was scary, Beth?"

Beth looked uncertain. She smiled a little in confusion. "Piglet?"

Quinn laughed. "Yeah, sweetheart. Rachel's Piglet. Do you wanna watch Mommy play with the kids now?"

Now Beth smiled enthusiastically and clapped her paws together. "Tigger!" she giggled out. Rachel bounced her up and down while Quinn prepared for their next scare.

She didn't pose like a ninja, like Rachel had, figuring that hadn't gone _exactly_ to plan. When she heard the approaching laughter of a group of elementary schoolers, she swooped smoothly out from behind the sheet, laughing maniacally with her arms at her sides.

The kids screamed, as expected, but refrained from bursting into tears and running away. A few clutched at their chests a little breathlessly and everyone watched Quinn slide quickly back behind the sheet. They moved on, laughing and commenting about her Tigger costume.

Quinn smiled satisfactorily and looked down at Rachel and Beth.

"Mommy, not…scary." Beth looked completely serious. "Rachel really scary."

Quinn cocked an eyebrow at her daughter. Rachel looked a little too smug considering her praise was coming from a two-year old.

"Beth, I think Mommy was very scary." Rachel said, causing the Pooh Bear to look up at her. Beth seemed conflicted for a moment, then nodded resolutely.

"Yeah, Mommy very scary."

Quinn narrowed her eyes. Apparently Rachel Berry possessed the power to brainwash her innocent toddler.

Oh God, Barbra Streisand, Broadway, knee socks, vocal exercises, supernatural levels of energy, dimpled smile, incredibly sweet nature…

Quinn knocked herself back into reality, literally, by accidentally slamming her head back into the locker.

"Oh, Quinn, are you alright?" Rachel reached up, feeling for the back of Quinn's head, and ended up palming the taller girl's face.

"God, Rachel." Quinn swiped the invading hand away. "Yeah, my hood."

Rachel nodded and went back to brainwashing Quinn's child while Quinn prepared to jump out at the next group. They heard louder voices approaching.

"Man, I think I should go to the hospital." One kid stated.

"Where's your mom?" His friend asked, voice muffled behind a mask.

"Outside with the chaperones."

"Geez, how'd that girl even get a sword anyway? Seriously, she went _straight_ for the neck. I don't-"

Quinn chose this moment to spring out from the sheet, screaming this time because Rachel Berry was _not_ scarier than her. She bounced up and down a little, because, well, that's what Tiggers do. She figured it wasn't as bad as Santana maiming their guests.

The boys yelled and stumbled into each other and against the lockers. They were a little older, so they didn't cry, but they definitely weren't laughing either. Success.

Quinn moved back behind the sheet. "Better, baby?"

Beth clapped her paws. "Scary mommy!"

Rachel laughed too. "Scary mommy!"

Quinn shook her head, reaching for her daughter. "You're next, Rach."

The next few groups went much the same way. Rachel took Beth out with her once, attempting to reach an even higher-pitched scream. If Quinn's eardrums and the kids' tears were any indication, she was successful. They got a text about an hour and a half in that said they would be finishing up soon. Kurt had been taken to the hospital when he misjudged the length of the carving table he and Blaine were hiding under, and gave himself a concussion. Finn, the half-Transformer, had started throwing up from fog inhalation, and Quinn felt she might be right behind him. Santana had been forcibly removed from the premises about half an hour ago.

The last group to come through was made of middle-schoolers, and Rachel prepared to take them.

Quinn smiled at her. "Last ones, Rach. Make it good."

Rachel nodded determinedly and straightened her pink ears. "I got this."

Beth gurgled in Quinn's arms, now a little tired and disoriented. "Got this."

"That's right baby girl." Rachel remarked, poising like a pink ninja again and listening for footsteps. She leaped out from behind the sheet as soon as they got close enough, but instead of a scream, Quinn heard the boys' yells and a mild thump, that sounded very much like a little, fluffy Piglet falling on her butt.

She ripped the sheet to the side, so it came unstuck from the ceiling and billowed to the floor. Sure enough, the little blob that was Rachel was caught up in a mass of mildly panicked middle-schoolers.

Quinn pulled Beth closer to her chest and moved towards Rachel.

"Hey! Let her up!"

As soon as Rachel was sure she wasn't going to be stepped on, she pulled herself to her feet. Quinn wrapped her spare arm around her, watching the boys. They looked a little sheepish and ashamed as they hurriedly moved past.

"Sorry, it was my natural reaction."

"Yeah, sorry. That's the scariest Piglet I've ever seen, man."

Quinn kept her eyes narrowed at them, not that they could see, and watched them go. Then she turned to Rachel.

"Are you okay?"

Quinn thought she seemed fine. Not…shaking or hyperventilating or vomiting or anything. Just normal.

Rachel smiled shakily. "My pants broke my fall. They didn't mean to knock me down."

Quinn nodded as Rachel continued, "And this just means I'm scarier than you."

Beth giggled immediately, but it took Quinn a moment to process that.

"What! You fell on your ass!" she protested. "How does that make you scarier than me?"

Rachel tried to look serious for a moment. "Quinn, we don't say A-S-S around innocent ears."

Quinn rolled her eyes and Rachel smiled. "And I didn't fall on my…_bottom_. They pushed me. I was the victim of physical violence for my scare efforts. It doesn't get more real than that."

"Yeah, mommy." Beth remarked, absentmindedly, waving her hand through the fog in the air.

"Yeah, mommy." Rachel repeated.

God, that grin.

Quinn tried to smother her own smile. She didn't know how she should feel about Beth turning into a mini-Rachel. She did know that if she didn't get out of this hallway soon, the fog would make her vomit down her Tigger costume.

She was about to tell Rachel this when a figure loomed towards them through the darkness. A massive figure, who heard a sound behind him, and leaped into the air faster than Quinn had ever seen Finn do anything in her life.

"Finn." She called, to make their presence known.

Finn tried to steady himself and act like he hadn't just performed a feat of gymnastic brilliance because of a locker creak.

"Hey guys!" he greeted, and now Quinn could see that he was shirtless.

"Lost your top-box huh?" Rachel asked, nodding along like she knew it would happen all along.

Finn glanced down and nodded. "Yeah. But it wasn't my fault. Puck wanted to stand on my shoulders, 'cause the box was like a human table, and—"

Oh yeah, Quinn could tell this was a wonderful plan already.

"..he hit his head on the lights and the box collapsed. Mercedes and Tina broke his fall though, so he's just on concussion watch with Kurt."

Quinn and Rachel just stared at him.

"Anyway, Mr. Schue wanted me to tell you that you can go now, and thanks for helping out."

Rachel finally smiled. "Well thank you. And I hope you, uh, find…a shirt. It's cold outside. Happy Halloween."

Finn smiled and tweaked one of Beth's Pooh ears before walking back the way he had come. Quinn, her arm still around Rachel's shoulders, guided them out of the double doors Santana and Brittany had been manning. They found a shoe, two bags of abandoned trick-or-treaters' candy in pumpkin containers, a Tinkerbell headband, a box of Band-Aids, and—_good Lord_— a streak of blood.

Quinn quickly moved them past _that_ and into the cool air outside, where she was finally able to breathe again. She was sure she had permanent pulmonary side effects from that fog. Beth immediately started crying.

"Oh, sweetie, are you tired? I know, it's bedtime isn't it." Quinn murmured, bouncing the toddler up and down lightly on her hip.

Rachel smiled sympathetically and reached for Beth and Quinn easily handed her over, watching their interaction.

"Hey baby girl. Did you like being Pooh Bear for Halloween?"

Beth kept crying, but nodded her head slightly before burying it in Rachel's fluffy top.

Rachel continued. "Do you know who Pooh's best friend is?"

Beth tried to stop her sobs so that she could answer, and looked up at Rachel's soft smile.

"Um, Tig-Tigger."

"That's right, baby girl! And what do Tiggers do best?"

Now Beth smiled a little and wiggled in Rachel's arms, demonstrating.

"Bounce."

Rachel grinned. "Do you wanna see Tigger bounce?"

Quinn narrowed her eyes as Beth nodded, watching Rachel expectantly.

Rachel looked over to Quinn with a smile. "Well, Mommy's Tigger right now so…"

Beth immediately caught on and clapped her paws together, sniffling away the last of the tears. "Mommy! Bounce! Bounce, mommy!"

It was terribly ridiculous and impossible to deny. Rachel Berry and her wide smile and Quinn's sniffly, Pooh Bear daughter. Combined, they were masters of persuasion.

So Quinn bounced, because they asked. She hopped up and down as high as she could while Beth and Rachel laughed.

"Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo!" she exclaimed, just like Tigger. Beth had the brightest smile on her face.

Rachel looked back down at Beth when Quinn finished, flushed bright red and totally proud to have made a fool of herself if it got Beth to laugh like that.

And Rachel, of course.

"What else do you know about Tiggers, Beth?"

Beth was still trying to control her giggles, and shook her head. Rachel smiled sweetly at Quinn as she spoke.

"Well…Tiggers are cuddly fellas, Tiggers are awfully sweet, but the most wonderful thing about Tiggers, they're bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun…and Mommy's the only one."

Quinn had no idea how Rachel knew the Tigger song, and she didn't really care at that moment.

"Rachel." She interrupted, before Rachel could go on about how "jumpy, bumpy, clumpy, thumpy" she was.

"Do you like pumpkin pie?"

Rachel looked surprised, but opened her mouth to answer after a moment. Quinn cut her off, spewing words out faster than Tiggers were supposed to talk.

"I mean, my mom made, like, seven thousand pumpkin pies, so I thought we could go on a picnic. Or something, like a date. You totally don't have-"

"A picnic with _just_ pumpkin pie?" Rachel interrupted, an amused smile on her face.

Quinn hesitated. Rachel was smiling, which was positive, right?

"Well, not _just_ pumpkin pie. In fact I'll probably vomit if I have to eat any more of that, but I could, like, make-" Quinn fiddled with her paws as Rachel cut her off again.

"No."

Quinn gaze dropped uncertainly and Rachel rushed to finish her statement.

"I mean, no, you don't have to make anything. Let's have a pumpkin pie date! That'll be wonderful!"

Quinn glanced up to see Rachel beaming brightly at her. Beth had a proud look on her face.

_Yeah, that's my mommy who just got herself a date with Piglet._

"Really?"

Rachel nodded enthusiastically. Beth copied her.

Quinn smiled and walked towards them. "Okay then. Come on, I'll walk you home, Piglet." She tweaked Rachel's pink ears and Beth's yellow ones.

Rachel chuckled as Quinn wrapped an arm around her, and Beth giggled in some sort of delusional, tired stupor caused by the late hour and the fog.

"Tigger likes Piglet!"

Rachel looked down at the flushed Pooh Bear face in her arms and then up at Quinn's soft laughter. She grinned brightly.

Piglet was pretty fond of Tigger too.


	2. Chapter 2

The corn maze, or "Maize Maze" as Lima City Hall dubbed it, was dark and tall. Pitch black, actually, where Quinn and Rachel were in the center. It was quiet and claustrophobic, straight out of _Children of the Corn_ or _Signs_, and Quinn was panicking internally because—really, what the hell had she been thinking bringing Rachel here for their first date?

"At least there's nothing jumping out at us." Rachel remarked, voice shaky. "Like at the haunted house."

Where _they'd_ been doing the jumping.

It really wasn't much consolation. It was like they'd tumbled into some new dimension, some new land far from civilization, and Quinn was ready to just plow through the corn to reach the exit.

"Just—let's go this way." Quinn sighed in frustration, gesturing to their right at a slightly better lit path.

She could tell Rachel was scared. Her shoulders were hunched slightly and her arms were crossed over the pumpkin on her sweater, and Quinn _really_ wanted to take her hand because she was absolutely ruining their night, her shot with Rachel.

But taking Rachel's hand when her arms were crossed would be weird. And Quinn's hands were sweaty, and they weren't exactly walking shoulder to shoulder, and really, so many things could go wrong.

"They should really pass out maps when people first enter the maze." Rachel whispered.

Quinn knew why she was whispering. She too was waiting for Jack Nicholson to come stalking around the corner with an ax.

"Obviously we wouldn't use the maps except in case of emergencies, like—" Rachel jumped mid-sentence, managing to swallow her shriek so it came out under her breath.

Quinn flinched at her sudden movement, knocking into Rachel's side. "Shit—oh my—what? What is it?"

Rachel's eyes were wide, shining in the moonlight. She steadied herself and spun around. "I don't—nothing. It was nothing. It's…exceptionally dark out here."

Quinn blindly kept walking, leading them to God knows where. Rachel's steps were more stilted and hesitant than before.

"I'm so sorry, Rachel." Quinn muttered, rubbing a hand over her forehead.

How the hell had _Lima, Ohio_ managed to create a labyrinth more complicated than the one that housed the Minotaur?

Rachel uncrossed her arms and smiled slightly, reassuringly up at Quinn. "Don't be sorry. This is…" she trailed off and tilted her head, and Quinn thought her dark hair looked as soft as the fuzzy gray scarf wrapped around her neck.

"I mean, there's _obviously_ some sort of flaw in design." Rachel finally said, coming to a stop in the middle of another crossroad. "Infants are supposed to be able to play in the maze. It's far too difficult, and it's not your fault."

"I shouldn't have even brought us to a maze." Quinn protested. "You deserve—God, this is stupid."

"You brought us here so that Beth could go with Puck on the hayride while we have our date." Rachel reminded softly. "It's sweet."

Quinn sighed. She wondered if she could take Rachel's hand now.

"Let's just…keep walking!" Rachel suggested brightly, though her eyes looked wary. "We can talk, if you'd like."

"You're so optimistic." Quinn mused.

While Rachel was thinking they'd find an exit if they just kept walking, Quinn had been contemplating just crashing haphazardly through the dense stalks of corn until they came out on the other end. Maybe she could throw Rachel into the air so that they could pinpoint their location.

"I have a question for you." Rachel said quietly, walking again, kicking her brown boots through the soil.

Quinn took a chance. She bumped lightly into Rachel's shoulder and took her hand, small and warm and soft, and Quinn stopped breathing for a second, but then she caught Rachel's shy smile out of the corner of her eye and she relaxed.

"What's your question?" Quinn wondered. She felt like she could blunder around here all night with Rachel's hand in hers.

"You don't…have to answer." Rachel assured. "It's personal, and maybe you're not ready, or maybe I'm prying, but—"

"Rachel, ask me."

Before they were sucked into the darkness forever, never to be seen again.

Rachel nodded quickly. Her mouth dropped open slightly and she licked her lips, but no words came out. Quinn lifted an eyebrow and squeezed Rachel's hand.

"Rachel."

"Why did you ask me out?" Rachel blurted, studying Quinn's face in the darkness. "I mean—do you…have feelings for me? Because I—for you—I think…" Rachel's gaze dropped to Quinn's scarf, brows furrowed in concentration.

"I didn't even know you liked girls, so I—are you—do you consider yourself…" Rachel seemed to have lost all of her language skills, and she brushed a hand through her hair in frustration.

"Gay?" Quinn finished for her, lips quirked.

Rachel slowly met her eyes. She held tightly to Quinn's hand like she was afraid Quinn would take off at any second and nodded, studying her reaction.

Really, Quinn had nowhere to go unless she wanted to plow her way through the dark depths of the cornfield into a horror movie. And she had no plans of running away when Rachel was squeezing her hand so tightly.

"I'm…" Quinn got over smiling at Rachel's stuttering and realized that she didn't actually know how to answer those questions. "I do…I'm— l like you."

Quinn flushed because she'd never said that before in her life, and it wasn't something _Quinn Fabray_ was supposed to say, but Rachel's wide smile made it worth it.

"And I don't—maybe it's just you." Quinn finished. She was glad that Rachel couldn't see her cheeks flaming red in the darkness.

"How long?" Rachel asked, reaching up absently to brush Quinn's hair out of her eyes and under her scarf.

Quinn laughed wryly. "I—um…a while."

Rachel stared at her with those big brown eyes and Quinn felt like she needed to say more.

"But…you were dressed as Piglet and you're so good with Beth, and you've always been—you've always…" Quinn shrugged. "I think you're my best friend."

Rachel looked like she was about to burst into tears. She shuffled forward until her boots touched Quinn's, and she looked unsure, but then she went for it and wrapped Quinn in a hug.

"I have feelings for you too." She mumbled into Quinn's shoulder.

Quinn squeezed tightly because she'd always enjoyed hugging Rachel. She was just the right height, and she was warm and her hair was soft and apple-scented, and she'd stand on her toes and tip her weight into Quinn like it was all she was focused on at the moment.

"Do you-does Puck know?" Rachel asked when she pulled back. "Do you mind if anybody finds out?"

Quinn swallowed. "No. I'm…done with that. Let them."

Rachel nodded, and then surged forward to hug her again, and Quinn heard a noise over the scuffling of the soil and the rustling of their jackets. She froze with Rachel in her arms, and Rachel seemed to hear the noise as well because she stiffened.

Either they'd found an exit or they were about to be murdered or abducted.

It was laughter, and Quinn took Rachel's hand and walked to the right, sticking close to the corn. She took another right turn, and it was like the world opened up. Like stepping out of an alternate dimension, dazed and confused and blinded by the light.

The sun hadn't actually set yet, and children and families milled around, eating and laughing like Rachel and Quinn hadn't been wandering aimlessly through the maze for the past two hours.

"We…found it." Rachel sounded bewildered. She turned to Quinn. "Am I—is this a hallucinogenic episode?"

Quinn snorted softly. "Why? Are you high, Rach?"

"_Quinn_, I would never—"

"Jesus, Quinn! There you are!"

Quinn rolled her eyes at Puck's voice and turned to find him jogging over, banging several people's shoulders in his hurry. She frowned at his expression, and then remembered that he was supposed to be on a hayride with Beth and she couldn't actually _see_ Beth at the moment.

"I can't find Beth." Puck declared breathlessly.

Quinn's heart leapt into her throat.

"I was—we'd just finished the hayride and I was getting her a funnel cake, and I turned around and she was just _gone_, and—"

"How long?" Quinn interrupted sharply. She scanned the area and felt Rachel squeeze her hand.

"Like, six minutes?" Puck restlessly ran his hands over the back of his neck.

"You've—have you—did—" Quinn sputtered.

"Where have you looked?" Rachel asked firmly, taking half a step forward.

"Everywhere. I got Mercedes and Sam and—"

Quinn let out a frustrated cry. "_God_. Are you—I leave her with you for _one_ hayride and you go and lose—"

"Hey! This isn't my fault, Quinn." Puck defended, even though he looked pretty guilty. He spun helplessly on his heel and Quinn felt like slapping him.

What did a two-year-old need with a funnel cake anyway? Beth had probably coerced Puck into buying her one so that she could wander off by herself. Go exploring, play with the soggy pumpkins.

Rachel put a hand on the small of Quinn's back. "Noah, call the police." She instructed. "Don't let anybody in the maze and tell Finn to shut the gates in the parking lot. Okay?"

Puck nodded immediately. He repeated what Rachel had said to himself and took off in the direction of the car park, pulling out his phone on the way.

Rachel turned to Quinn and spoke more softly. "Quinn, what was Beth wearing when Puck picked her up?"

Quinn pressed her free hand against her eyes, fisted and angry. "She was—it was that moose costume you got her. It's brown and it's like pajamas, and God, she has _antlers_, Rachel! How could—she's only two! We have to—"

"Let's go look." Rachel cut her off, just to get Quinn moving.

Quinn felt sick. Her face was hot and she was angry, and _wow_, just nothing was going well, so she tripped after Rachel and opened her eyes for her daughter's fluffy blonde hair or antlers.

Rachel led them straight to the funnel cake stand, gripping Quinn's hand tightly. Her brown eyes were sharp and her mouth was set, and she looked so in-charge that Quinn was prepared to listen to whatever she said.

"So, from here, what can she see?" Rachel asked, examining the area around the booth. "She doesn't like caramel, right? Or nuts, or any of that stuff, so she wouldn't go over there." Rachel pointed to the other food booth. Candied apples and pretzels and peanuts.

Quinn nodded quickly. Right. Beth hated caramel. She'd scrunch up her cheeks and shake her hands around when Quinn would get her to try it, but she'd still end up with it all over her face.

"Assuming that nobody's found her yet, or taken her to the ticket booth, she must be hiding. Or sleeping." Rachel remarked logically, striding off in another direction.

Quinn liked that those were the only options.

"Would she go in the maze?" Rachel looked unnerved at the thought.

"No. She doesn't like enclosed spaces."

Rachel's eyes fell back to Quinn, smiling slightly. "Just like you."

Quinn nodded.

"Okay, well there's really not much…" Rachel trailed off. The maze was obviously the main part of the "Maize Maze" attraction, and then there was an empty pumpkin patch and a petting zoo, all within a hundred yards. With about a hundred people.

There weren't many places Beth could be.

"Okay. Okay, um…" Quinn steadied herself. "Let's—maybe she went back to the car."

Rachel looked doubtful and tears burned Quinn's eyes because she knew it was ridiculous, but how could Puck just go and lose her baby girl?

Quinn's breath got shallower, and she spun in a circle and looked for signs of _anything_.

"The horses!" Rachel exclaimed, almost leaping into the air with her epiphany. She looked excitedly at Quinn. "When I got her the moose costume you said it was ridiculous, but she loved it because she thought it was a horse, and she liked the little fluffy hoof paw things that go on her hands!"

Quinn stared. "Yeah, so—do they—are there horses at the petting zoo? Puck checked there."

"Beth's a sneak, Quinn, you know that." Rachel was already dragging her towards the animal pens. "And they have mini horses. I used to ride them when I was small."

"You're still small." Quinn remarked distractedly, running to keep up now, boots thumping into the soil.

The three miniature horses were meandering around their own pen, separate from the goats and sheep and chickens, and Quinn climbed over the little fence while Rachel took the time to unlatch and re-latch the gate.

Quinn knocked sideways into a feed bucket and then spun in a stilted circle, and she was seconds from just having a breakdown in the dirt and calling in the FBI when she spotted a small blonde head sitting on the ground at the feet of one of the horses.

"Beth!" she cried out in relief, registering Rachel's squeal of excitement behind her.

Beth waved at them, delighted, and kept stroking the horse's nose. He was barely taller than her, a paint with a thick flaxen mane, and he stood with his body positioned protectively in front of Beth. Quinn easily shifted the good-natured horse away and scooped up her daughter.

"Baby girl." She whispered, squeezing Beth tightly. Beth giggled against her neck. "Don't you _ever_ wander off again, sweetheart. Never ever."

Rachel was loudly praising the miniature horse, cooing in his ears and patting his neck, and Quinn choked out laughter and stepped over to her with Beth in her arms.

"Rachel!" Beth proclaimed, flailing her arms in Rachel's direction.

Rachel didn't hesitate in wrapping both Quinn and Beth in a hug. "Beth_, baby_, you scared us so much." She gushed, rocking them side to side. "You can never do that to mommy again, okay?"

Beth laughed and nodded like it was no big deal. Like she hadn't just shaved about five years off Quinn's life. She held her antlers in one hand and shoved them in Rachel's face. "I'm horse."

Rachel smiled. "You're horse?"

"My, um, my paws—my—"

"Your hooves, sweetheart." Quinn supplied quietly, shifting to hold Beth in one arm and Rachel's hand in the other.

"Yeah, my hoo-hooves." Beth reached out and tapped her fluffy mitten-hooves against Rachel's cheeks.

"Beth, promise me, please." Quinn murmured, and Rachel took Beth's hands to hold them still so she'd listen. "You _don't wander off_, okay?"

Beth nodded, wide-eyed.

"Do you promise, baby?"

Rachel wasn't sure that Beth could fully understand this, but Beth nodded again, vigorously this time, and then tipped forward in Quinn's arms to give her a hug. It was good enough for now.

They were walking back to the car park when they ran into Puck, who was sprinting madly past the food booths with Finn right behind him. Quinn had never seen a guy look so happy in her life. Beth had been gone for nine minutes, and Puck had lost his mind.

Finn threw Beth into the air a few times just to make her laugh.

Quinn sighed, relieved and exhausted, and turned to Rachel and took both her hands. She played with the buttons on Rachel's cuffs and watched the bright orange and yellow lights in Rachel's eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Rachel." She said earnestly. "I've—this has been a horrible, awful first date, and I understand if you—if you hated it and don't want to do it again, but—"

"Quinn," Rachel smiled, swinging their hands between them.

Quinn's breath hitched.

"Yeah, this last part was…not _ideal_, but it wasn't a horrible date."

Quinn was doubtful. It actually pained her that she'd screwed up her chance with Rachel so badly. Lost in a maze, missing toddler. She'd never admit out loud that she'd miss holding Rachel's hand.

"I have pumpkin cupcakes at home." Rachel stated, smiling shyly. "So maybe if you wanted to—I mean, they're vegan, but they have sugar of course, and that's all you and Beth need, right? So if you wanted to come over, we could have-maybe pumpkin cupcakes and cocoa? Or if you just want to go straight home, then that's—"

Quinn's lips slowly quirked into a smile, once she processed what Rachel was saying. She stepped forward impulsively and cut Rachel off with a kiss, just like their first one, except longer and more comfortable and not dressed as Pooh Bear characters.

"Of course I want to have pumpkin cupcakes with you, Rachel." Quinn murmured.

Rachel flushed and grinned and smoothed her hands over Quinn's scarf, pulling her closer.

"Mommy." Beth appeared at Quinn's leg, wearing the antlers and tugging on her coat to get her attention. She pointed at Finn and Puck, who stood a few feet away, surprised and amused.

Puck gave them a thumbs up. Finn smiled widely.

"Um, Rachel come—coming home, mommy?" Beth wondered.

Quinn smiled at her, and then at Rachel, whose cheeks were still a lovely shade of pink. "No, baby, we're going home with Rachel."

"Pumpkin cupcakes!" Rachel exclaimed.

Quinn knew that Beth didn't know what they were, but if Rachel showed enthusiasm for anything at all, then Beth would as well. Beth clapped her paws together, and Rachel scooped her up and tugged off her antlers to deposit them on Quinn's head.

Quinn shook her head around for her daughter's benefit. "I'm a reindeer, baby."

Beth frowned, unimpressed. "No. Moose."

Rachel snorted.

"Mommy, moose." Beth continued, pleased with the reaction she'd elicited.

"Yeah, Quinn." Rachel contributed, eyes sparkling. "Get your animals right."

Quinn scoffed at these people. These two _toddlers_.

She jabbed Rachel's stomach and took her hand and flushed because she'd never felt so comfortable or happy. And then she walked with Rachel pressed against her, apple-scented in her turkey sweater, ready for pumpkin cupcakes in infant moose antlers.


	3. Chapter 3

Quinn gagged on her plastic vampire teeth and halted in the middle of the street. She spat them out—with a lovely handful of saliva stringing from her lips—and glanced discreetly around. Nobody seemed to have noticed her third choking episode of the night.

At the rate she was going, she'd have the rubbery teeth lodged in her throat before they hit the last house.

She wiped them off and put them back in her mouth with a grimace, then looked around for Beth, who was dressed as Batman and blending alarmingly into the night.

"Quinn, it's gone!"

Rachel came surging up from behind her, top hat tipping. She had Beth's hand firmly in her grasp and Quinn frowned at her volume. She steadied her girlfriend's arm and shuffled everybody over to the sidewalk.

She calmly asked, "Wush wrong?"

"My ring!" Rachel shrieked like it was something Quinn should've known.

She looked frantic, a mad Mad hatter in her slipping top hat and fitted, flamboyant tuxedo. Quinn held her in place.

"The one I gosh you foe you burshday?"

Rachel stared, blinking.

Quinn rolled her eyes at herself and spat the rubber teeth back out. She ignored the face Rachel pulled and Beth's loud, "Ew, mommy!" and wiped the spit from her lip.

"Ew, mommy." Rachel echoed, nodding at Beth.

Quinn asked again, "The one I got you for your birthday?"

She was already scanning the road for glinting light, any flash of the blue stone on Rachel's ring. Rachel put Beth's sack of candy on the ground and held up her hand, fingers bare, nodding sadly. Quinn took her palm and kissed her knuckles.

"I had it when we left the apartment." Rachel said.

Quinn refrained from asking her why she was wearing it to go trick-or-treating dressed as the Mad Hatter because her girlfriend seemed upset enough already.

Rachel caught the question in her eyes anyway and immediately defended, "I don't like taking it off!"

Quinn's lips tipped up.

"Mommy." Beth whined, yanking on the cape strung around Quinn's neck until Quinn coughed and put a hand on her head.

She looked expectantly down at the masked face of her daughter.

"I need more candy."

Quinn lifted an eyebrow. "You have buckets full, honey."

"She knows mommy's going to eat it all." Rachel remarked, smiling.

She watched Beth struggle to pick up the heavy sack of candy and hand it back to her. Rachel took it with an amused, "Thank you, Miss," and Beth nodded.

Quinn's eyes were narrowed at Rachel. "Uh, who ate every Skittle in the house yesterday?"

"Quinn, my ring is missing." Rachel said, doleful again.

Beth wandered off to her side and Rachel bent over and held her cape—a smaller version of Quinn's—to keep her close.

"We're going to go back the way we came." Quinn decided. "Beth can hit all of the houses on the opposite side of the street and we'll find your ring."

"Deal!" Beth proclaimed, shooting forward and pulling on her cape like a dog.

She coughed after a few steps and Quinn took Rachel's hand with an amused, "Don't strangle her, baby."

Rachel let the cape fall from her grip. Quinn had taken to swooshing hers around dramatically—because really, how often did she get to wear a cape?—and she spun on her heel and let it billow around her just so that Rachel would crack a smile.

A lost ring really wasn't the end of the world.

Rachel's lips twitched. She murmured an affectionate, "Idiot," and followed after Batman.

…

With one house to go, the ring hadn't been found. Rachel and Quinn scoured the road and sidewalk and accompanied Beth to every door, showered praise and pride on her because she remembered to say "Please" and "Thank you" each time.

Rachel was moving considerably slower, dejected, dragging her shiny shoes and not looking very "mad" at all. Quinn's salivary glands seemed to have stopped working and the rubber teeth rubbed her gums raw.

Beth ran excitedly up the path to the last house and Rachel called after her, "Last one, baby girl!"

She made to follow, but Quinn tugged on the tail of her tuxedo jacket and kept her on the sidewalk. Rachel turned and Quinn smiled tiredly, smoothed out Rachel's orange vest and put her hands in the front pockets.

"What if we don't find it?" Rachel mumbled after a moment.

Quinn pulled her closer, right up against her. She smelled like pumpkin because she'd been baking all day—muffins, cookies, pie, pizza—laboring under the impression that Quinn and Beth would eat it all.

Quinn shrugged a shoulder, smiling at her. The fangs made it lopsided. "Ads oshay."

Rachel snorted under her breath, fixed Quinn's collar.

"I gesh you a new wa."

"I don't know what you're saying, Quinn." Rachel laughed. She rubbed her hands over the soft, double-breasted, purple velvet vest Quinn had pulled out of her attic two weeks ago. Paired with her high white collar and sharp jaw, Quinn looked villainous when she wasn't dribbling spit down her chin.

Quinn rattled off something else incoherently and tipped forward to kiss Rachel's neck. She pressed the plastic fangs playfully into her skin, and then pecked the spot soothingly when Rachel squirmed away.

Rachel reached up and tapped her jaw. "Take these out. You can't speak properly."

Quinn complied. She dropped the teeth into her hand and struggled to break the strings of spit that followed.

Rachel looked disgusted. "Quinn."

"Mm." Quinn cleaned herself up and smiled widely. "Better?"

Her gums were a violent red.

Rachel reached up and palmed her cheek, rubbed it softly. "Sure, baby."

"I was _saying_…" Quinn held Rachel by her oversized, patterned bow tie to make sure her girlfriend was listening. "It's just a ring, Rachel. I'll get you a new one."

Rachel's lips turned down. "I want that one."

"Why?"

"Because…" Rachel shrugged and glanced around, annoyed that she had to give a reason. "I'm—it's special."

"Why is it special?"

Quinn tugged on a lock of the orange, curly hair of Rachel's wig and pushed the top hat back out of her face.

"Because you got it for me." Rachel said. She quietly added, "And it's blue."

Quinn hummed. "Topaz blue."

"And expensive." Rachel whispered, looking guilty.

Quinn spied Beth coming back down the path, swinging her plastic pumpkin candy bucket in giant circles. She smiled at Rachel and stepped back, fixed her tuxedo collar.

"You have me, baby. You don't need a ring." She reasoned smugly.

Rachel's lips quirked. "I _want_ a ring."

Quinn stared at her—held her gaze—and reached out for Beth's hand.

"Mommy, I got, um, I got some M&Ms." Beth peered into her bucket and then thrust it in Rachel's direction. "We can share."

"That's kind of you, sweetheart." Quinn said, eyes still on her girlfriend.

Rachel looked bewildered with her stare.

They headed towards their apartment building, just a block away from the little New York neighborhood that reminded Beth of Lima, and Quinn bumped shoulders with Rachel, held her hand inside Rachel's tux pocket.

"How about a different kind of ring?" Quinn ventured, searching her face.

Rachel's eyes widened. Her step faltered and her foot landed on Quinn's cape, jerking her back. Quinn rubbed at her throat while Beth laughed.

"Quinn Fabray." Rachel said lowly.

Quinn shrugged, smiling. "I haven't yet."

Rachel stared at her, flickering her gaze between Quinn's playful eyes.

"Rachel, you be the bad guy." Beth requested, skipping backwards to capture their attention. Her mask was crooked now, her cape sideways. "Go—um—run and let me chase you."

Rachel tore her gaze away from her girlfriend and obeyed, just a bit distracted.

"I don't think Batman can catch the Mad Hatter." She remarked skeptically.

Beth gasped and lunged for her, and Rachel held her top hat to her head and took off up the brightly lit street, tuxedo tail flapping behind her. She looked over her shoulder at Batman and caught Quinn's thoughtful smile.

…

Beth dumped her plastic pumpkin bucket and sack of candy out on the coffee table as soon as she got home, pleading for Rachel and Quinn to, "Check it! Check it!"

Rachel discarded her bow tie and jacket and plopped her top hat on Beth's head, and Quinn got rid of her vest and cape, loosened her collar and tipped onto the couch next to them with an exaggerated groan.

"Mommy." Beth laughed.

"Mommy's feet hurt." Quinn complained, propping them up on the coffee table. Rachel put an arm around her shoulder and squeezed.

"That's why bats fly." Beth informed proudly.

Rachel leaned around Quinn to see her. She whispered loudly, "Mommy would make a terrible vampire, wouldn't she?"

Beth nodded enthusiastically.

Quinn would protest, but she'd spent half the night trying to keep all of her saliva in her mouth while gagging on rubber teeth. Rachel kissed her cheek and sat forward to look at the candy.

Beth followed, climbing onto the floor with her elbows up on the coffee table. She rocked side to side impatiently.

"We can share, Rachel!" She offered, grinning. Her hair was mussed and without the mask the black make-up around her eyes made her look like a raccoon. "Mommy eats all the M&Ms, but you can have, um…Starburst."

Rachel smiled fondly at her, smoothed down her hair. "Thank you, sweetie, but I'm okay."

Quinn took an exceptionally deep breath and Rachel glanced at her—eyes closed, head tipped back against the couch pillow, probably asleep in her powdery make-up and red lipstick. Her hair had long come free of its regal up-do.

Rachel chuckled quietly and patted Quinn's knee.

She checked over the candy for open wrappers, weird substances, anything suspicious, with Beth bouncing eagerly next to her. Rachel had declared the entire pile safe and edible and was in the process of shoveling it all back into the sack when a "ping" sound stopped her.

Right there, between a clump of mini Kit-Kats and box of Nerds, was her ring. She gasped and held it up, stared at the bright blue topaz stone, the birthday present Quinn had saved up for. Rachel glanced at her girlfriend, teary eyed and incredibly relieved.

She sat back on the couch and hugged her arm, kissed her cheek, watched Quinn smile in her sleep.

Beth was tearing open her candy—not the M&Ms yet, because those were mommy's, of course—and Rachel slipped the ring into her vest pocket and tipped into her girlfriend's side.

Maybe she'd keep it to herself for a day or two.

She was just a bit curious about what other sort of rings Quinn would come home with.


End file.
